Game Day #4

The hockey gods were not smiling on us this morning.  We got up very early and headed to Scotia Bank for pictures and testing.  The pictures took longer than expected so we had almost no time to warm up prior to our testing.  Myself and several other girls super tight in the hips and groin area while we were skating so it was a little tough.  There was also a little mishap during one of the skating tests.  Ilona, who is my size, collided with Anna, who is probably 5'10" and solid.  Poor Ilona went down really hard but fortunately she was ok.  Then, on the way back to the hotel one of the vans (not the one I was in) rear ended someone.  Again, fortunately everyone was ok as well but it definitely created for an interesting morning!  

I was assigned the first quarterfinal game, Germany vs Finland.  It was an all North American crew as I was working with Krissy and Denise.  Obviously it was a really big game - the winner would move on to face the United States in the semifinals.  Finland controlled the play and scored a goal with about 5 minutes left in the 1st.  The Fins continued to get the majority of the chances but could not seem to finish (no pun intended).  The game ended up staying 1-0 but the shots were 43-13 in favor of Finland.  Clearly the German goalie earned her player of the game award.  It was a fun game to work and we North Americans worked really well as a team.  My hip and groin felt like crap after the game so I had the trainers try to stretch me out and he discovered my left hip was about 3 inches higher than my right because the muscles were so tight. They brought over some crazy machine and massaged the crap out of the muscles in that area and adjusted my lower back. A big thank you to the trainer because it helped a ton (and my hips are back to being even).  It is still a little sore but I'm hoping after a day of rest tomorrow (we have no games) it feels 100% again.  

It is pretty important that it does because I am working the relegation game with Laura and Melanie on Monday.  This is a huge game as the Czech's are fighting for their lives since the lost in a shootout today.  It is also really important for Sweden as they are scheduled to host the 2015 championships and cannot afford to be relegated.  I'm super excited to work with Laura again, we worked great as a team last time so I expect more of the same.   The game is at 12:00 and will be on fasthockey.com.  

Tomorrow is an off day and we are planning on doing some more sightseeing.  Looking forward to spending another day with this great group of girls!